Micro-igniters and detonators being fabricated to date utilize adhesives to integrate the various layers required. The use of adhesives between the fabricated layers requires a large die size and the process introduces the possibility of contamination to the layers.
Recent advances in micro-machined silicon techniques demonstrate the capability for low-cost integrated micro cavities with a high degree of isolation, leading to the fabrication of wafer-based micro detonators that are extremely dense. The resulting micro detonators can be self packaged when separated from the wafer.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a lightweight, compact, low power, low cost, reliable MEMS-based micro detonator that can demonstrate the feasibility of mass fabrication.